For the last little while, my girls have been waking very early anything from 4:30am-5:30 am (at the latest). They were having a 1-hour sleep in the middle of the day & then going to bed at night at 7:15, but not actually going to sleep until after 8pm.

Due to this, I have been trying to cut their daytime sleep out. It's been VERY hard! By 4pm they are sooo grumpy! They then go to sleep just after 7pm, but are still waking just after 5:30 in the morning. So they sleep from about 7:15-7:30 at night to 5:30am. Do you think this is reasonable? They will be 3 in a month.

I thought cutting the daytime sleep out they would sleep till something like 6am, but so far that hasn't happened.

I am SOO angry atm. This is hard & I hate my days with my own kids, they are cranky all day.

Here's yesterday.

They woke at 5:30AM. By 10 am they were getting grumpy. We spent the afternoon out (DH had to work, so I was on my own with them all day). We were outdoors, so lots of running around etc. Once home, they were tired. We decided to get pizza for dinner & have an early dinner. On the way to get the pizza the girls wanted to sleep in the car & we BATTLED to keep them both awake. Both ended up falling asleep, but we woke them. From then on, it was HORRIBLE. They were so tired.

We managed to keep K awake till 7pm & D fell asleep at 6:40PM. Danika went to sleep while I was still in her room with the light on! That's NEVER happened before.

This morning they were both WIDE AWAKE at 4:30AM! It seems that no matter what, once they have had 9hours sleep that's IT. DO we persist?

I feel like I'm stuck either way. If they do have a sleep, then they don't go to sleep till after 8pm, & still wake at 5:30 or before. I also have to wake them up & then they are grumpy b/c I have woken them up. I feel like I don't get ANY time to myself. By 8pm I couldn't be bothered starting anything I would like to do (things I can't really do with the girls around). If they miss the sleep they are tired & very cranky & it's horrible.

What do I do???? Do you think if I keep doing what I'm doing they will adjust & sleep longer at night? Is this worse by the fact that I have 2?

Any advice would be GREAT! I feel like I am going nuts.

Belinda

Hi Belinda,

you must be exhausted as well. My son is 3 and 4mths. He was also 10 weeks early as well. He would always sleep, up to October last year (2.5yrs old) he would day sleep for 1-3 hrs. It was amazing. We moved to London in Oct and couldn't get him into a bed for a day sleep. He sometimes fell asleep over the weekend in front of tv if we made him lie on a recliner. But this year not.

The only time he now has a sleep (well today it was 3.5hrs and have him in bed at 8.30pm tonight, asleep by 8.45pm) is generally if we are travelling overseas for the weekend.

Last weekend we were in France and he fell asleep in the stroller most days for 1-2 hrs, mind you we were out with him till 10pm having dinner - something we only do on holidays, are very strict about bedtime at home.

What can I say, maybe they are only ready to cut out a sleep every second day. My sil had this with her son, now 2.5, he would sleep in day one day and be up till 9pm but then not the next and go to bed early. MAybe they are not ready totally.

My son typically goes to bed at 7.30pm each night and asleep not long after, he is in day care full time and too much is happening to go to sleep during the day, so is tired. We generally do the same as you, try and keep him awake during the day but figure on Sat he needs it as it is tiring in day care all day. As far as early waking, he wakes at 7.30pm most mornings, generally he sleeps about 12hrs.

I feel they are possibly waking early given the amount of sleep that they are having, I thought children needed about 12hrs (don't quote me) but my son fell asleep at 6.30pm on Friday night, sure enough, 6.30am Sat he was up. Do you know what is waking them up, is there too much light coming in, are they hungry? Just some thoughts.

Sorry but I haven't been a great deal of help. I do know another mum from our Aussie expat thread whose son is a month or two younger than my son has him wake at 5.30am and he I think is asleep by 7pm and possibly still has a day sleep.



Kelly
<P>Jordan 11/05/02<P>

Hi Belinda,

This post probably isn't going to give you many ideas but it will let you know you are not alone!

We too are going through this kind of pattern with our girls. It is a nightmare....so I can totally empathise with you. Getting up at 4.30am really is the pits! We have done all sorts of things to try and get them to sleep a bit a later, we have gradually been moving the bed time at night and now they go down at 7.30pm (were going down at 6.30pm) and are usually asleep within 10 mins or so. I don't want to make their bedtime any later than that otherwise there is no evening left for DH and me to do anything!!

We have also cut the daytime sleep down to one hour (they would have 2-3 hrs if we let them). They can't manage without a sleep at all so an hour seems like the best compromise. For a few weeks after we made these changes they were both waking at about 6am which was bliss!!! Daisy always wakes before Sophie and we have told her (very sternly!!) that she is not to wake her sister up!!! But its all gone wrong again over the last few weeks, Daisy will wake anything from 4.30 to 5.15am and Sophie about 5.30am. I don't know what to do about it. I'm fresh out of ideas! :quest:

Sorry I'm not much help. Would love to hear if you come up with anything that works.

Beth

Sophie and Daisy 9/4/03

Hi again

Yes this is SO hard! It was also hard for us going from 2 sleeps a day 1 when they were much younger.

I'm positive they are not hungry & their room is already dark. They have always been light sleepers too. As soon as they are awake, they are WIDE-awake, full of energy.

This morning they DID actually fall asleep again for about 15min's. I put them down for a short nap at 10:30 for just on half an hour so we could get through the day.

Beth I KNOW what you mean about having no time if they go to bed later than 7:30pm. My girls were only having an hour sleep in the day, but that seems to be enough for them to be up at 8pm.

Add into all this they go to childcare 2 days a week & they HAVE to have a nap there. Last week I got them at lunchtime, b/c I didn't want them sleeping then & not going to bed at night. If I GIVE them opportunity to sleep, they will. So I'm trying not to let them sleep & hoping that within time, their body clock will change! I hope this isn't wishful thinking :confuse:

Belinda

You must be exhausted you poor things!! We havent had to do this yet thank god! Joel and Cam go to bed at 7pm(theyre absolutely stuffed by then....they wake between 6.45 and 7am and have day sleep from 1-3pm(we have to wake them up).

The only thing that made any difference for us(it used to be 5.30am starts) was to totally block out the light in their room-blankets drapped over the gaps where light came in and peg to hold the curtains shut tight.

We also dont have a light in their room(so they cant turn the light on) and they arent allowed out of their room until we go in to get them up (theyre also not allowed to get out of their beds)

We found Cam used to get into Joels bed and wake him up, and then later Joel would start 'chatting' in the early hours and wake Cam up.....they now get a stamp for staying in bed, and for being quiet until we get them up....works well for us.

I really dont have any further suggestions sorry.

Joel and Cam are now 3yrs 3months

Caz Joel and Cam at 2 1/2years old-now 3 years old

Hi,
I know how you feel its very hard to try and get some time to yourself .. My twins b/g are 4 in september and still have a 2hr to 2.5hr sleep in the day and then go to bed at 7.30pm and wake at 6.00am.
Although at the same age that your girls are my d/d tried to drop her day sleep and as you know they still really need it so I was very determined to not let that happen. I just was very persistant with her - if she got out of the bed I would put her back and I kept putting her back in bed and kept telling her she had to sleep and eventually she went back on track.
The only other thing I can sugggest is to give them a early lunch 11am or 11.30am and have them in bed by 11.30am or 12.00pm (mine still eat lunch at 11.30am and are in bed 12.00pm on the dot that way they are up at 2.00pm and ready for bed again at 7.30pm (some nights they muck around until 8.00pm at the lattest).

Good Luck .. I hope this helps !!!!

Hi, my twins were three in July, and we have a similar problem. they still NEED their nap, at around 2pm, but if I let them sleep too long I can't get them to sleep at night, and they always talk for a while after they go to bed. We let this happen as they don't get up to too much mischief, but they are starting to appear in our room around 4 or 5 am. Which means they are grumpy around ten and risk waking our five month old who is still in our room. Mostly though they can be convinced to go back to bed or hop into our bed. I think one of the good tips above may be to wake them after an hour or hour and a half, and not let them go down too late in the afternoon. Also, this week we noticed that they coped one day with a missed nap when busy with their dad on the farm, but the second day they fell apart by late afternoon, so two missed naps is obviously too much. So maybe as someone else mentioned , let them miss every secoind day's nap, depending on you weekly routine. I think I may start doing this.

It's hard to know what to do though isn't it. I have been trying to work out to nap or not to nap for a while, and hadn't actually linked the early morning wandering to their day nap till I read this. Thanks everyone!

Sorry dont have too much advice but feel your pain!!! The day sleep provides that little oportunity to stay sane..

I go to a Mums group where the kids are all about to turn three(my girls are 2 years 4 months) They have all had a lot of trouble with day sleeps either the kids not sleeping or sleeping late and then not going to bed till really late. I know a few have found that an early nap say 10.30/ 11ish for a max 1 1/2 hours has seemed to work. Then 7.30 bed time.

hope the kids settle for you a bit...

Rebecca 32
Nathan 28
Fraternal twin girls Amber & Olivia 08/05/03